John
A Novel
(paperback: Bloomsbury USA, 2008)
(hardcover: Bloomsbury USA, 2008 )

In the tradition of Jim Crace’s Quarantine and Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, John is a stunning, lyrical reimagining of John the Apostle in the final years of his life, by the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of Four Letters of Love.

At a time when Americans remain skeptical about religion but still thirst for spiritual fulfillment, Niall Williams’s extraordinary and masterful new novel reveals a universally appealing message of hope and love.

In the years following the death of Jesus Christ, John the Apostle, now a frail, blind old man, lives in forced exile on the desolate island of Patmos with a small group of his disciples. Together, the group has endured their banishment, but after years awaiting Christ’s return, fissures form within their faith, and, inevitably, one of John’s followers disavows Christ’s divinity and breaks away from the community, threatening to change the course of Christianity. When the Roman emperor lifts the banishment of Christians, John and his followers are permitted to return to Ephesus, a chaotic world of competing religious sects where Christianity is in danger of vanishing. It is against this turbulent background -- and inspired by Jesus’s radical message of love and forgiveness -- that John comes to dictate his Gospel.

Immensely impressive -- and based on actual historical events -- John is at once an ambitious and provocative reimagining of the last surviving apostle and a powerful look at faith and how it lives and dies in the hearts of men.

Boy in the World
(paperback HarperCollins 2007)

A beautiful and moving novel about a young boy's journey from childhood to adulthood from the bestselling author of Four Letters of Love, Niall Williams, draws us into life in a small village in Ireland where a boy is growing up and making his first tentative steps to becoming a man. Questioning everything in an attempt to make sense of the world he is discovering through books, he is on the cusp of an understanding of what it is to be a man. But, when the Master, his caring old guardian, gives him a letter from his long-dead mother, his world comes crashing down. Learning for the first time that his father is not dead, as he had been led to believe, the boy must relearn everything he thought he knew. He sets out to find his father, piecing together the information he can glean from his mother's letter: he is a journalist for the BBC, he has lived in London, and he is a Muslim. The boy sets out to find his father. Arriving in London, disorientated and alone, he finds himself at the centre of a terrorist attack as the BBC is bombed and hundreds are killed and injured.Taken under the caring wing of Sister Bridget, a nun also caught up in the chaos, he refuses to allow this catastrophe to move him from his goal; he must find his father. This is the heart-warming tale of a young boy trying to find his way in a changing world, a world where no-one is safe and where terrorists seek to destroy all that civilisation holds dear.

Only Say the Word
(Picador, 2006)

A novel that is simultaneously a universal story about love in all its forms and guises, and an intimate love letter from a husband to his wife Jim Foley loves his parents, his brother, his sister, Dickens and God; later, he loves Kateenough to make her his wife and to shape his life around herand later still, he loves his children, Jack and Hannah. Only Say the Word tells Jims story, and the story of the people and places in his life, as he moves from childhood to marriage and fatherhood, from early days spent in County Clare to early adulthood in America, and back to Clare once more. Deeply personal and written in his lyrical, lilting prose, Niall Williamss fourth novel is about unspoken emotions, undying devotion and blind faithbut, ultimately, about the redeeming, enduring nature of love.

The Fall of Light
(paperback: Grand Central Publishing, 2003)

Beginning in Ireland in the early years of the 19th century, the four Foley brothers flee across the country with their father and the large telescope he has stolen. Soon forced apart by the violence of the Irish wilderness, the potato famine, and the promise of America, the brothers find themselves scattered across the world. Their separate adventures unfold in passionate and vivid scenes with gypsies, horse races, sea voyages, and beautiful women. An epic narrative on the meaning of love and home and family, The Fall of Light is a dazzling novel by one of the most promising novelists writing today.

As it is in Heaven
A Novel
(paperback: Grand Central Publishing reprint, 2000)

It was a season of love in the afternoon; of slow time and long caresses, of strawberries...passing from mouth to mouth like the wet, ripe and softly bruised essence of pleasure itself... Lyrical prose and lush imagery have earned Niall Williams international acclaim. His first novel, Four Letters of Love, was selected as one of the Most Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times. Now this gifted author offers a tale of dreams granted and stolen, of life given and denied, and of love as everlasting on this earth... As it is in Heaven. Time has already stopped for Stephen Griffin when he moves into the little house by the sea. Twenty-eight years old and haunted by death, the tall, awkward, shy schoolteacher is content to care for his father in Dublin and let life pass him by. (continued)

Then a miracle appears: a string ensemble from Venice and, with it, a violinist named Gabriella Castoldi. Even though the worldly, beautiful musician seems incapable of giving her heart, love seizes Stephen Griffin...unbidden and shaking every particle of his spirit.

Stephen's ailing father sees it and fears for his naive son. Nelly Grant, the greengrocer, predicted it and welcomes its sheer joy. Moses Mooney, the blind musician, has sensed its coming. None, however, can envision the depth and consequence of this union. For Gabriella will change not only Stephen's life but, in the deepest sense, the lives of everyone around them.

As it is in Heaven evokes the magical essence of romance and its miraculous ability to grace even the darkest life with light. Splendidly crafted and charged with poignancy, it firmly establishes Niall Williams as a master storyteller in the grand tradition of Irish literature.

The author of the critically hailed Four Letters of Love returns with a passionate, haunting love story of isolation and renewal in a small Irish town.

Four Letters of Love
(paperback: Grand Central Publishing, 1998)
(hardcover: Pan Books, 1998)

This could be one of the sleepers of the season. When an Irish civil servant abandons his wife and twelve-year-old son for two summers to pursue his dream of becoming a painter, the stage is set for dramatic changes in the household. Despondent from the lack of income, the mother commits suicide, leaving Nicholas and his father to eke out a meager living. Years later, after a series of mishaps, Nicholas' father burns his paintings, their house, and himself. Nicholas, now himself a civil servant, is a man with a mission. He casts aside his current life to try to regain the only surviving painting of his father's work. His quest takes him to Galway where he finds much more than he ever anticipated.

The Luck of the Irish
Our Life in County Clare
by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
(paperback: Soho Press, 2003)
(hardcover: Soho Press, 2003)

The story of a family's decision to return to their homeland describes how two artists left their New York City careers for a life in Kilmihil, adopted two children, and witnessed the elements of change in western Ireland.

The Pipes Are Calling
Our Jaunts Through Ireland
by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
(paperback: Soho Press, 2003)

With two-year old Deidre in her baby seat, Niall Williams and Christine Breen take to the backroads and boreens of Ireland in their third book. Illustrated.

When Summer's in the Meadow
Our Life in Clare
by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
(paperback: Soho Press new ed., 2003)

This story takes up where O Come Ye Back to Ireland left off. After learning they can't have children, Niall and Christine adopt their only child, Diedre, and continue their story in the pastoral farming community in the wild and beautiful Irish countryside.

O Come Ye Back to Ireland
Our First Year in County Clare
by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
(paperback, Soho Press, 2003)

This small charming book sold out four times when first published. The authors abandoned their careers in New York and emigrated to Ireland to live out their life's dream. As seen on CBS Sunday Morning and Good Morning America.

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